


That We Do

by HeroSavesPeople



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, West-Allen Family - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 10:18:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13809132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeroSavesPeople/pseuds/HeroSavesPeople
Summary: Barry and Iris’s daughter makes a shocking announcement.  Twins are 17.





	That We Do

**Author's Note:**

> A little light piece to balance the angst I've been writing.

There’s a collective clatter as everyone freezes in their seats and drops their utensils in shock. After a long moment of awkwardness in which no one knew what to say, Don breaks the silence.

“Did you just say what I think you said?” he asks in a horrified whisper.

Dawn’s eyes flicker to her brother. “Oh!  Sorry, bro uh yeah you might not want to be around for this conversation,” she says sheepishly.

“You sure as hell I don’t” he bursts out. “Ugh _god,_ why would you say something like that.  There is no way I can eat anything now, I’m going to my room.”  And with that Don scrapes his chair back and makes it halfway toward the stairs before walking swiftly back and grabbing his plate full of food. “But just in case,” he mumbles, heaping extra spoonfuls of everything before speeding away to his room leaving his parents in stunned silence while Dawn looks between them.

“So uh, what do you guys think?”  Dawn sat up straight in her seat, her hands clasped in her lap as she anxiously awaits her parents’ response.

Barry stares unseeingly at the bowl of mashed potatoes in front of him and nods slowly. “So it’s happening. This is happening right now.”

Iris reaches to her left and grips Barry’s hand in comfort as she smiles tightly.

Dawn looks between her parents, her shoulders drooping, uncertain.  "You guys look really disturbed.  Should I not have told you?“

"No!” Iris shouts abruptly.  Her other hand leaps across the table and grips her daughter’s arm reassuringly.  "I mean _yes_ you absolutely should and I am so, so happy and proud that you did,“ she says, trying to remain calm.  "Right honey?” She sends Barry a meaningful look.

Barry breaks out of his daze.  "Huh?  Oh yeah, yes, Dawn, we are,“ he clears his throat. "So proud,” he squeaks.

He looks over to his daughter and tries to paste on a smile.  "But, sweetheart, um, this is kind of sudden, isn’t it?  I mean, I thought you weren’t going to uh you know uh…" He rubs the back of his neck.

“Have sex?” Dawn supplies helpfully.

Barry looks away, his face scrunching as he stifles a disturbed groan.  Iris looks at him sympathetically and rubs her thumb across his hand.  He squeezes her hand tight and takes a breath before turning back to Dawn who had continued eating her dinner.

“Uh,  yes have s-, have s-…”  Barry clears his throat, incapable of formulating a sentence where the word ‘sex’ referred to something his daughter was contemplating.  "I didn’t think you were ready for that until you were um, you know thirty, thirty-five?“  He nods, trying in vain to mask the panic.

Dawn looks at Barry abruptly.  "What?  Dad, I never said that.”

“Oh, you didn’t?” he stammers.

Dawn shakes her head, looking at her dad strangely.  "Uh no,“ she laughs, appalled.  "Thirty?  That’s thirteen years away.”

Iris leans into him.  "Honey, that was something you said to which I replied, 'Hah, keep dreaming, babe.’  Remember?“ Iris whispers.

Barry swallows thickly and looks at Iris.  "Right,” he says softly.  "Wish I was dreaming right now.  Or could wake up from this nightmare.“

"What was that dad?”

“Oh! Um nothing, sweetheart, nothing.”

“And you know, I’m seventeen, almost eighteen soon so technically I’m kind of a late bloomer.  Most of my classmates had sex by the time they were fifteen.”

“Oh Dawn that is not a late bloomer,” Barry says, trying to discreetly rub the tension from his temple.  "I didn’t until I was in college.“

"Wait, seriously?”

“I had a bad girlfriend in high school.  It never felt right.”

“That’s cool, Dad,” she says honestly.  “You waited until it felt right and I’m doing the same.  Things feel right with Jonah.  We love each other and I mean, you guys love him, right?  And we’ve been together for two years now.” Dawn says brightly.  "I’m ready.“

Iris looks over to Dawn and smiles gently.  "I’m really glad you talked to us about this, honey.”

Dawn beams back at Iris.  "Oh, I’m so glad you guys aren’t freaking out!  I was worried this was going to be a disaster–“

"Um, right my daughter is going to have…intercourse.  Right.” Barry mumbles.  He looks over to Dawn and nods.  "Right, so there is much to know.  Don’t worry, I’ll help you.  Be back in a flash.“

And in a flash he was back, towing along a marker board on wheels and standing in front of the dinner table in between his wife and daughter.

Dawn’s eyes widen as she takes in the large board standing behind her dad.  She glances at her mother, then back to her dad.  "Uh, hey what’s that?”

“Oh!  Well, you’re about to embark on something huge,” he cringes, his face crumpling in horror “ugh I mean, that’s not–oh god…”  He takes a moment to compose himself, taking a deep breath and uncaps a marker before turning to face the board.

“Ok, so this is an egg and this is a sperm,”  Barry says as he draws on the board.  “They both–”

Dawn’s eyes widen as she splutters.  "Oh, Dad that’s totally fine, you don’t have to give me the biology lesson.  Mom and health class already took care of that.  Plus, Auntie Cait gave me that human bodies book for my birthday five years ago.  I am a-ok when it comes to that stuff.“

Barry whirls around.  "Y-you already had the birds and the bees talk?”  He looks to Iris who nods.

“Honey, I don’t think Dawnie needs a lesson on the reproductive process.”  Iris looks to Dawn, a little uncertain.  "Right, sweetie?  You were looking more for…"

Dawn sits up straight in her seat and smiles brightly at her mom.  "Oh well, I actually just wanted to let you guys know is all.  I mean, I know there are all kinds of protection anyway and I already got them all.  And extras just in case,“ she nods sagely.

Barry’s eyes bug out.  "All?  Extras?” he asks weakly.  "Um,“ he lets out a weak chuckle and looks queasy.  "Ok, um I’m going to…get us some water.”  And with that, he dashes to the kitchen where Iris knows he will be hiding indefinitely.

Iris looks at her daughter with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.  She squeezes Dawn’s hand.  "I will be _right_ back, don’t go anywhere because I absolutely want to talk to you about this.  And I definitely want to see what you got for yourself to make sure it’s all good, ok?“

Dawn nods with a smile. "Ok,” she says happily.  Iris takes a moment to look at her daughter’s sweet face with an affectionate smile even as the residual shock and worry remain.

“I am really glad you came to us, Dawnie.”

“Me too.”

With a reassuring squeeze, Iris walks into the kitchen to find Barry contemplating down at a small vial of clear liquid while rubbing his hair vigorously.  "Babe?“ she calls out softly.  "You ok?”

Barry jerks his head toward her and shakes his head slowly.  "No, Iris, I’m not.  Our baby is thinking about having, having… _sex_!“ he exclaims in a whisper.

Iris walks over to Barry and gently rubs his arms.  "Ok, I know this is scary, but we need to handle this well because our baby actually came to talk to us about this.  Not a lot of parents can say that.”

“How are you not freaking out?” 

“Oh, trust me, I’m feeling all kinds of way right now, but we need to be smart about this.”

“We can’t allow this, Iris.  This is some white-people problem!”

Iris bursts out into laughter.  "Oh honey, she is half-white and she gets that from you, so if anything, you’re to blame.“

"Ugh no, I grew up in a black household.  No, scratch that, I grew up in _Joe West’s_ home.  If he knew we were having sex, I mean not to each other but in general although obviously, I wouldn’t have minded if we were but you totally did not want to have sex with me which is fine, of course, because we’re having sex on the regular now anyway–”

Iris puts her hands on Barry’s shoulders to stop his babbling.  "Babe, I get the picture.“

Barry takes a deep breath, his shoulders lifting under the weight of her hands.  "Right.  But, what I’m saying is that he would put a stop to it and we should too.  We have the upper hand now.  Find out when it's happening and you know,” he puts his wrist under his chin and wiggles his fingers. "Block them."

Iris looks at Barry disapprovingly.  "Bar, come on, we can’t do that to our kid.  I know it’s scary to think about because she’s so young and still our baby, but we’ve both been there.  We can’t betray our daughter’s trust and I mean, look at her!“  They both peer around the doorway to look at Dawn who was enthusiastically eating her dinner, helping herself to more green beans.  She certainly got her father’s appetite.  "She’s a great kid and so smart. We are really lucky that she actually has an arsenal of knowledge to make sure that she is protected.  I trust her.”

Barry closes his eyes and drops his forehead on her shoulder, sighing in resignation.  "You’re right,“ he groans.  "I never wanted to be one of those dads that went all macho on his daughter’s boyfriends, anyway.”

“Honey, that’s partially because–”

“Yeah, I know,” he mumbles, begrudgingly.  Had it not been for his speedster powers, Barry doubted he could really 'go all macho’ on anyone.  Iris runs her fingers through his hair.  'I do trust her, it’s just…"

“I know,” she says softly.  "But, you know, years from now when she’s married with kids of her own, she’s still going to be our baby.  Nothing is ever going to change that.“

Barry lifts his head from Iris’s shoulder and looks at her glumly before pulling his lips into a small smile.  "She is pretty great, our kid.  We got lucky with both of them.”

Iris puts her arms around his shoulder as his hands slide around her back.  "That we did.“

He leans down and kisses her softly, savoring the sweet taste of her that is uniquely Iris.  After all these years, through the ups and downs, including a difficult pregnancy, she never ceased to amaze him and leave him in awe.  He was just as much as in love with her as he had been as a ten-year-old, even more so after the twins came to be.

He inhales her scent and nuzzles his face against hers, before sighing heavily.  "We should probably get back to her.”

Iris pulls back and takes his hand in hers.  "We got this, Allen.“

He squeezes her hand and smiles at her.    "That we do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for making it to the bottom! Would love to hear your thoughts :)
> 
> Have to give credit to the Black Lightning writers for the “This is some white-people problem,” line because that whole scene was hilarious and that line cracked me up. Also, have to give credit to @blackloislane on Tumblr for the idea that Barry probably brings a board to draw out diagrams! It was a nice touch lol. 
> 
> I can totally believe that Dawn is called Nora on the show but I'm calling her Dawn for now until the show confirms it :P


End file.
